Begin Buried Next to Wife in Jerusalem

Israel solemnly buried Menachem Begin on Monday and debated which of the former prime minister’s ideas to bury with him and which to keep alive.

He was interred on the Mount of Olives facing the golden-pink walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. At his request, pomp was kept to a minimum. Begin chose to be buried beside his wife rather than among Israel’s founders and leaders at Mt. Herzl, to the west of the city.

“In the annals of the nation, the name of Menachem Begin is etched alongside those of the greats,” said Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who rose to political prominence in the ruling Likud Party as Begin’s protege.

Chaim Herzog, the country’s figurehead president, paraphrased a biblical verse: “Know you that a great minister has fallen in Israel.”

Thousands of Jerusalem residents lined the route of Begin’s funeral procession. His body, draped in a prayer shawl, was carried into the cemetery by comrades from the Irgun, an underground group headed by Begin that waged a war of terrorism to expel Britain from post-World War II Palestine.

There was unanimous agreement that Israel’s 1979 peace treaty with Egypt crowned Begin’s six years as prime minister. Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon was cited as a low point and a kind of metaphor for ideological rigidity for which the late leader was criticized.

In pledging to carry on Begin’s legacy, Shamir promised to “proclaim the force of our right to our entire homeland, from the (Mediterranean) sea to the (Jordan) river.”

That geographical reference includes the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, which the United States and much of the world community want to see Israel trade for peace with the Palestinians and the Arab world. Shamir did not refer in any way to Lebanon.

Other ministers in Shamir’s Cabinet praised Begin’s devotion to the Land of Israel, a reference that includes the occupied territories. They also eulogized his appeal to Israeli immigrants of North African and Near Eastern origin to whom he gave voice.

Yitzhak Rabin, head of the opposition Labor Party and Shamir’s chief competitor in elections scheduled for June, said that Begin’s dealings with Egypt “proved that peace is not a dream.”

Rabin indirectly criticized the invasion of Lebanon, which Begin authorized in hopes of destroying the Palestine Liberation Organization and paving the way for reduced opposition to Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza.

“Begin would prefer not to look at that as the most important decision of his life,” Rabin said.

Leftist politician Shulamit Aloni, a harsh critic of Begin, called him a man of contradictions. He brought peace, she pointed out--”For that we shall always be grateful.”

But she insisted that Begin had “internalized” a map of Israel that included the West Bank and Gaza, a vision that dominated his thinking. She also accused him of playing to the “mob” with extreme language.

Outside of Israel on Monday, President Bush praised Begin--who shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat--for playing a “very courageous, farsighted role” in the Israeli-Egyptian peace process. “His historic . . . role will never be forgotten,” Bush told reporters.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Amir Moussa also recalled Begin’s efforts for peace. Moussa seemed to take a jab at Shamir by adding that Israel’s “current leaders should learn” from Begin.